Moral Monday, WCHL Get National Attention

CHAPEL HILL – Moral Monday protests that continue to bring attention to new bills, received national attention on the Ed Schultz show Monday afternoon. Schultz says that several of his colleagues have been “Frothing at the Mouth” over Moral Mondays.

“Moral Monday, there are going to be some more people who are going to be arrested today down in North Carolina, and why would you want to take away the hopes and dreams of a young person or someone that would be actively involved?” said Schultz.

North Carolina Senate Democratic leader, Martin Nesbitt, joined Schultz on the show and discussed the current law that the General Assembly passed regarding voter IDs.

“Cut back a week of early voting, eliminate straight ticket voting, counties can’t extend the poll hours on Election Day in response to long lines, eliminate pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, bans voter registration drives, by the calculation of the people who know we think the changes will about 416,000 hours to North Carolina’s voting process” Nesbitt commented.

The new Voter ID bill is just one of many bills that have passed. Many people like Ed Schultz, Martin Nesbitt, and Moral Monday protesters say they disagree with the laws. Nesbitt says passing unpopular bills could hurt a party’s chance for re-election.

“And the legislature rating is down around 20 percent right now, the margin on a generic ballot for the legislature is nine points to the democrats, the highest it has ever been since public policy polling asked the question” Nesbitt said.

Nesbitt references that Carter Wrenn said the Republicans shouldn’t think they won’t lose it as quick as they won elections while on WCHL’s show, Who’s Talking with DG Martin. Republicans in office have been under fire from many different groups like the Moral Monday protesters, Democrats in office, and the media. Nesbitt says Republicans have been hard to find toward the end of session.

“They’re, they about gone silent now, they use to get on and brag and do this sort of thing, and now they just kind of gone silent and they continue to do what they had to do and pursue this agenda, and once again I think the plan is just lay low and express the vote and hope nobody comes get us” Nesbitt remarked.

Governor Pat McCrory will have many bills to either veto or pass in the near future.

Carter Wrenn & Gary Pearce Weigh In On Moral Mondays

Pictured: Moral Monday

CHAPEL HILL – We’ve heard from the outspoken Moral Monday protesters as they gather in Raleigh each week to rally against the policies of the Republican-led General Assembly. WCHL’s D.G. Martin spoke with Carter Wrenn and Gary Pearce, two experts on opposite ends of the political spectrum, to get their take on the protests.

Together the two run a blog together called “Talking About Politics.” Wrenn, who’s a Republican, and Pearce, who’s a Democrat, met in 1984 during the epic U.S. Senate battle between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Wrenn worked for Helms and Pearce worked for Hunt.

Wrenn said Moral Monday leader and NAACP State Chapter President Reverend William Barber has become the face of the Democratic Party in North Carolina.

“I don’t think Moral Monday has contributed any sort of sensible political debate. I don’t want to sound harsh, but William Barber is pure demagogue. This isn’t a debate, this is a political rant,” Wrenn said.

Wrenn said Barber has used the strategy of “out-howling” everyone to get his point across.

“The theory is that as that howl reaches through the ether and the internet and people hear somebody hollering, that’s helping them a lot politically. I’m sort of inclined to think that hearing that sort of hollering, you shut down; you just block it out,” Wrenn said.

Pearce however felt differently about Barber’s leadership.

“One man’s demagogue is another man’s leader with courage and conviction. At least he’s had the courage to stand up and say some things, and he has hit a responsive chord,” Pearce said.

Pearce said this mid-year swing in momentum is a positive sign for the state’s Democrats.

“There’s a mobilizing, energizing element to this. Remember in 2010 all the energy and protests were coming from the Tea Party and then we had a very Tea Party dominated election in 2010. I’m hoping this energy translates to next year,” Pierce said.

These comments were made during the recording of Who’s Talking with D.G. Martin. To hear more from Wrenn and Pearce, tune in for the full show Saturday and Sunday at 6:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. on 97.9 FM WCHL and Chapelboro.com.

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